


Reveries

by Bantha_Fodder



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Darth Darcy, F/M, Fix-It, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Possessive Kylo Ren, Post-Canon, Protective Rey (Star Wars), Rey helps him remember, Sequel Retelling, Space Opera, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, The Force Ships It (Star Wars), Virgin Kylo Ren, pride and prejudice vibes all day long, renporer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:13:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26887168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bantha_Fodder/pseuds/Bantha_Fodder
Summary: With the reconciling in the Throne Room on Exegol leaving more questions than answers for Rey, she won't accept what's happened.  Inwardly distraught but outwardly determined Rey needs to start to figure this out, just like a piece of mech that has fallen into disrepair she can fix anything this will be no different, right? No matter how bent out of shape this situation appears she promises herself she will find a way to correct immeasurable loss the other half of her dyad.Meanwhile on one of the last remaining First Order ships cruising through the lesser known regions of the galaxy, a certain project is about to come to life in a way many consider to be unnatural, force help our motley crew of characters for this bumpy ride!Some plot loops and wormholes abound! The space opera continues, as the idea i've been toying with since watching TROS comes to life.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

-Exegol-

Rey knelt on the floor of the Sith throne room, all breath had escaped her lungs. Unable to move, her heart continued to thump along keeping rhythm with the seconds as they passed into minutes. Numb. That was it, the sensation that overcame her, as her mind was reeling from the feeling of being cleaved in two. 

He had turned. He had come back, for her. In her moment of greatest need Ben Solo had been there. Together they had taken down Palpatine, deep down she knew that it wouldn’t, couldn’t have been possible without the strength of their dyad. 

Reflecting Palatine’s force lightning back at him had taken every last shred of energy, there was nothing left to support her own corporeal functions. Before tumbling forward a few steps the last thing she thought was that her friends would be safe, even if she wasn’t the one to look after them anymore.. That Leia and Han’s son had come back, Ben he had come home.. Then her vision dimmed and her form toppled to the cold and broken stone. 

When she came to, she was disoriented by her surroundings, everything that had taken place was slow to make sense. Her body was firing off distinct sensory inputs one at a time, as if any more than that would overload her limited processing capabilities, first was the smell of singed fabric and still slick sweat muddled together, then the heavy feeling of humidity in the air, and lastly a warmth resonating from her stomach as she made out someone’s palm resting gently on her waist. 

She blinked heavily and her plane of vision finally adjusted to stare straight into Ben’s eyes. All of the day’s events came flooding back all at once. She became more attuned with her body and realized she was splayed across Ben’s lap, while her head was being supported by a Solo hand, the other was slowly being retracted from her stomach. 

Managing to sit up she looked at him as if it was for the very first time. Their eyes searched each others’ a moment before they both inclined their heads in an attempt to close the distance that fighting on opposite sides of a war had kept them from each for so long. As their lips met the force hummed to life through the bond. So much passed between them in that moment, hopes, regrets, and so much left unsaid starting to unfurl. 

They broke away from each other to make sure what they were experiencing was real, looking to each other again both of their faces split into a smile of so much joy and wonder. Stars Rey thought, seeing Ben smile dimples and all, made her heart take flight, she had never imagined what he would look like happy but she knew this image before her would be stamped into her memory forever. 

As quick as it had begun, the scene changed as did the warning in the Force. Ben fell backwards to the ground and it was she who now supported his head as his upper body met the hard ground. She didn’t understand what was going on as she searched him for injuries and wounds. The odd angle his leg was shifted at along with a slight protrusion implied a moderate break but nothing fatal, and then it dawned on her that she was in much worse shape after dealing with Palpatine then when he had been thrown backwards into the pit, cascading down into the deep crevice several stories down into the structure of the sith structure. 

He had force healed her, Ben had drawn upon the light to mend her broken body. She knew from her own few bouts of force healing others that the act drew upon the users own life force and channeled it into the recipient. Had Ben given too much of his own life force? Or had she passed beyond the point of healing, instead requiring resurrection.. 

As her thoughts formed and coalesced in her mind, she was staring into Ben’s unconscious face now and his form started to visibly shift to a blue hue and then vanished into the ether, his clothes collapsing on the jagged stone beneath them. 

‘No! No no no no no!!’ she spoke frantically just above a whisper. ‘Ben what did you do?’ she knelt forward shuffling through his clothes as if she would find some magical solution to undo whatever had just occurred. Tears fell and began streaking her face, blurring her vision once more, she had never been one to control the surge of emotions especially when it came to Kyl- Ben. 

She gathered up his tunic off the floor, the same one that had a lightsaber hole burned through the fibers from the last time they had crossed paths on Kef Bir. Clenching it close to her chest she refused to admit that he was really gone and fought against the idea that he had given all of himself to bring her back. 

Rey reached into her mind touching the space where the bond usually reverberated at a familiar frequency. It was still intact but not nearly as strong and sure in the way she became used to. Silently she pleaded with the force , ‘Be with me, please let him be with me!’ In such a short span of time, such incredible feats had taken place and it dawned on her she might have been asking for too much, still Rey was never one to simply give up. 

Her heart was so suffused with complex and draining emotions she could hardly sift through it all. She needed to leave the throne room and get off exegol as quickly as possible. Her surroundings were fogging her mind and she was afraid if she lingered much longer she would succumb to every detail both great and terrible that’d transpired over the past standard day. 

Neatly folding Ben’s cowl she tucked it into her pack and stood to retrieve both Skywalker sabers. She rose, crossing the corridor containing all of Palaptine’s cloning mechanisms, keeping focused on what came next; she never once looked back over her shoulder knowing deep within that she would not turn to find Ben lingering nearby.


	2. Millennium Falcon

-Millennium Falcon-

After Rey had strode out of the monolithic Sith structure and out into the static night of the dark planet she could see how much damage the Resistance fleet had caused. Or rather how much damage was inflicted thanks to the vast quantity of cruisers, mid size frigates and even other light freighters that had entered the fray following the coordinates she had passed on through the open comm channels. 

It wasn’t more than a moment after emerging that an unmistakable x wing caught sight of her after conducting a fly by dropping down far below the level of the Final Order fleet and slowed down as it crossed her perpendicularly. She recognized Poe’s flying style in an instant and thought she could make out an A.O.K gesture through the cockpit. Through the force could feel his relief and satisfaction emanating outward from a battle hard won. 

He must have commed Chewie because shortly after the Falcon swooped down to land not more than 15 meters from where she was standing. Hardly any dust was kicked up by the thrusters as the ramp was lowered for her. A sharp inhale later and Rey’s gut tensed up as she felt somehow there was an irony to striding up into the ship that had seen so much of the Skywalker story. A ship that was by all rights to go to the last Solo in this saga, and this acknowledgement made her heart twist.

She shook off her hesitations, there was some catching up to do with her chosen family. As soon as she stepped foot in the corridor leading to the main cabin she was rushed with a blur of wookie fur snatching her into a bone creaking hug. “Yes Chewie, I’m alright- having trou- breathe-..” He released his grasp around her figure and Rey couldn’t help but to beam “We defeated him Chewie! Palpatine, he’s gone!” Chewie let out a rumbling roar of approval at hearing that, and then tilted his shaggy head sideways and pressed in clarifying “We?” 

Rey’s face faltered a moment at that, Chewie had a right to know more than any other member of the Resistance of Kylo Ren’s turning back to the light. She looked down to compose what she would say next and looked up directly at the Wookie, “Ben, he came back, he battled and beat all the Knights of Ren and came to my aid to take on Palpatine...” Her voice trailed off at the admission suddenly overtaken by the truth of her thoughts spoken out loud. 

A tear started to stream down her face for what felt like the hundredth time that day and Chewbacca let out a slow and mournful whine, inquiring about his whereabouts currently looking past the Jedi girl as if he would be following in tow behind her. She couldn’t keep his eye contact shaking her head ever so slightly, “He was hurt, and be- before I knew- what was going on the force took him a-aw-away.” Chewie brought her closer to him and enveloped her into another fury hug but this time it was softer, more somber with the news she shared. 

He growled cautiously testing out how she would react and gestured his head behind his shoulder motioning to the cockpit, Rey scrunched up her nose in agreement as they turned and made their way to the front of the ship. Chewie took the co-pilot’s seat and Rey slid into the captain’s position, they paused for a deep breath as Rey started up the engine and Chewie inputted the Resistance base coordinates into the navicomputer. 

Once they hit light speed and the hum of the compressor resonated throughout the Falcon’s hull Rey had a minute to unclip from her post, asking Chewie if he was alright to man their flight path back to Ajan Kloss. He grunted once and reached for her arm as she passed through to the cockpit giving her the briefest of squeezes. Rey was flat out exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally, she made her way to the Falcon's sleeping quarters. 

Once she entered the crew cabin she found herself drawn to the smaller of the bunks and crouched down to rest on the bed. She reached down to take off her boots, after she had gotten the first of her shoes off she felt a tug over the bond. Her eyes went wide as she tried to fathom what this could possible mean was he trying to reach out? She tugged on her side of the bond cautiously, like if she pulled too hard it might snap.. There was no response... 

Rey began second guessing herself, was she imagining things after such a long and trying past few days? She pulled on the bond one more time, but now more forcefully trying to jerk it awake. From the other side of the link she felt weariness and surprise and within that same instant the clamping down of Ben’s side of the bond with a thick mental shield. Nope, she definitely wasn't imagining things. Did he.. just shut me out? Rey wondered to herself more than confused. 

She then fell back onto the bunk curious and hurt and comfortably numb from over exposure to all her feelings. Reaching out one more time to her dyad she was met with impenetrable shields, she curled into a ball on the bed and tried to focus on her breath. Just breathe. In and out. In and then out. Before she could complete a third inhalation and exhalation set she knocked out into a deep sleep. 

Despite the comatose state, rest did not come easy for Rey even in a state of extreme tiredness. Flashes of images danced in her head, Ben leaning in for their kiss, him brushing his fingertips up and over her ear tucking a stray strand of hair. Their furious fight on Starkiller base as she sliced open his face. Her reaching out and healing the wound she'd inflicted on him on the ruins of the Death Star. The first time they met in the forest on Takodana how frightened and helpless she felt in his force hold, and yet she could feel from this vantage point in her mind's eye that he would do her no harm then not then not ever, not really.


	3. -Deep Space: Far Reaches-

-Deep Space: Far Reaches - 

Adrift in the far reaches of the unknown regions of the galaxy a single resurgent class star destroyer cruises on. Far within the durasteel hull of the enormous battleship stand two troopers guarding the entrance to a specialized medical facility, a squirrely MS6-E droid zips past the hallway pivoting while still in motion to look at the door the two soldiers we’re standing in front of. Not stopping its route the mouse droid ran into the curvature of the corridor clearly not paying attention to where it was headed. Puzzled by the droid's strange behavior the two troopers shoot a glance at one another trying to silently account for the service droid’s clumsiness. 

Behind the double biometric coded door, several technicians are busying themselves around the lab checking machine outputs and gathering supplies with a vigor to their movements. There were additional praetorian guards stationed an arms length away from what appeared to be a full sized bacta tank with an unrecognizable figure inside. Attached to the transparisteel glass were tubes stretching out into various medical devices used for life support and homeostatic regulation, all of which were blinking with sensor lights confirming that all operations were functioning right. 

The lead researcher on the project turned, nodding solemnly to the technician operating the master controls of the complex tank. Without fuss the tech reached forward flipping the main switch on the display which instant triggers a warning bell blasting three short alarms. The luminescent liquid begins draining from the tank, there are additional med staff that move into position as the liquid ebs. As the slimey bacta passes the point of an invisible seal a hydraulic mechanism unlocks the containment panel and begins to slide down into the tank’s base. 

A med droid on standby moves forward to administer a syringe of an epinephrine equivalent into the subject’s carotid artery. As this dose is injected one of the med techs tenses up eyes going wide with the scene that unfolds before him. After a few seconds tick by the silence in the room is sliced by the sound of jagged breathing by someone who had been forfeit of air too long, coughing follows and echos loudly throughout the bay. 

Large hands grasp at the sides of the bacta tank in an attempt to haul the entity they belong to out of the enclosure. At this movement there are two techs who jump forward to assist, “Lord Ren, you are aboard the resurgent class star destroyer Absolution, you have just come out of a sort of hibernation, some discomfort and disorientation are expected.” There is a cloak draped over the large man’s shoulders as he stumbles to gather his bearings of the room. His eyes are blown wide with the adrenaline coursing through his veins and at the news he is slowly unpacking. 

Kylo rasps “Status report captain-”, the researcher charged with this project moves nearer her subject “Cillis, Captain Cillis sir. You’re conscious mind has just entered one of your reserve clones, you’re prior form suffered significant injuries ultimately resulting in your death. Supreme Leader Snoke had a contingency of clones prepared should in the event of your death you require an additional corporeal form, this body’s last memory backup was performed 16 standard moths ago.” At her last testament Kylo raises a hand turning over his palm inspecting his own appendage considering her words. Swallowing down the dryness from a parched mouth due to underuse he asks, “Where is the Supreme Leader now? Take me to him.”

Another tech approaches cautiously and hands him a canteen of water that had been prepared for this awakening, he takes it without so much a glance in their direction. Captain Cillis’ eyes shift beyond her subject to the entourage of red guards, deliberating on which words would suffice. “Snoke was murdered aboard the flagship the Supremacy over a year ago. You have ascended to take his place Supreme Leader.” She finishes by inclining her head in a reverent bow. 

At this Kylo’s head snaps up to stare directly at the captain now, “Murdered? By whom?” he deappans. The Captain unsure how to proceed shrinks back as a shadow in the corner of the room speaks up in a cold malevolent tone, “It was the girl, supreme leader.” Kylo straightens up at the sudden attendee who chose to just show himself now. Ren's able to place the voice before its owner steps out from the shadows, Dansam, he knew him as a high ranking officer but not a General last he recalled. Asserting his dominance Kylo grinds out the words with as much venom as he can muster, “What girl??”


	4. Chapter 4

\- Dreams - 

Rey awakes in the night to a shift in weight on the mattress of her bunk, she has been attempting to fall asleep for hours now, but has been failing miserably. She wonders if she might have hit the point of delirium, her mind must be playing tricks on her. It could only be a dream that the bond has brought Ben back to her. She silently sucks in a sharp breath and holds it as if not to break this spell. 

She doesn’t want to ruin the moment by testing the force, she is glad to wallow in her memories. Rey’s eyes trace the angle of his nose, down to the curvature of his chin and the scattering of moles that scatter her bondmates face. She tries in vain to burn the image of his face into her retinas. Her hands have a mind of their own however and she delicately reaches for him, and in a heartbeat her wrist is caught in a large firm grip rendering her immobile on her hands intended path. She looks beyond her trapped wrist to pools of black focusing on her features, “how did you get in here?” Ben rasps. 

Rey can’t help it as the corner of her lips twitch up into a smile, “Is it really you, Ben, are you really here?” she mumbles just above a whisper. 

His eyes widened momentarily and then narrow sharply at the name he had worked to long purge from record. His demeanor darkens aside the girl laying across from him, “To speak that name is treason, how did you get into my chambers?” he replies. 

Instinctively her fingers curl gently around the vice that is his hand and she wonders how in the galaxy the Force could be this cruel. “The force works in mysterious ways..” she intones, to show her a vision of Ben and that it would be as if he had no recollection at all of what they shared. 

His grip tightens ever so slightly before releasing and shifting her hand away, “I wasn’t expecting any visitors..” He appears pensive for a moment, “I do not entertain pleasure girls. Get out.” 

Rey’s face shifts to a look of scrutiny, her cheeks brazening a deep hue, “I am not a pleasure slave!” she blurts out anger swelling around her in the force. It must catch him unawares to feel the throbbing waves of pain and embarrassment in the force for he falters sputtering “I..I... just assumed since it’s the middle of the night cycle, and you’re in my bed...” his eyes shift downward to the space between there bodies. 

Rey releases her breath and giggles nervously. Kylo shifts uncomfortably beside her, she looks down past his face for the first time since the bond connected them, he is laying shirtless in bed and his lower half is hidden under the covers, no doubt she woke him and she is thankful for the lack of light in the cabin because she can feel her cheeks growing hot all over again. He gulps and his adam’s apple bobs continuing on with his inquiry, “if not that, then what is this. Why are you here?”

Her eyebrows pinch together, he adds insult to injury even if this is just a twisted projection the force decided to pull. She shifts her eyes away from his gaze as they begin to water before she can move to keep the tears contained, she shakes her head as if that would lessen the sting of his words. “You came back for me Ben, why!? Is it just to mock me now, to make me feel as though you cared?!” 

His face gives nothing away but those eyes, eyes that could tear her down and build her back up again in a matter of moments glisten in attempt to understand the meanings of her words. “You... We’ve met before I can feel it, my memories.. They aren’t as clear to me. Who am I to you?” His confession rips through her soul. He forgot about her, the bond, how could she be so foolish to believe that what they shared carried any significance to him. She’s a nobody afterall, no place in this story, just a desert rat from Jakku. 

She tightens her lips and scrunches up her eyes in hope of waking herself from this nightmare, a dream where nothing they shared mattered. She focuses on her breathing, willing her mind to shift to a new dream away from this horrific farse. Opening her eyes ever so slightly he had not moved a muscle his whole body tensed, a cornered animal ready to pounce. 

She contemplates, “Who are you to me? We.. We knew each other, we confided in one another, we... we helped each other overcome great challenges... we’re, we were bonded. In the force, it started as something we didn’t want but it became... we became friends.” Rey lifts her hand to trace the line of his scar on his face but once her finger connects to the space of skin above his brow where the scar began she finds it unblemished as if her marking of him in the snows of Star Killer never happened, her lids fall heavy in bereavement of their history. 

His eyes flutter under her touch, he can’t remember the last time someone had touched him kindly and perhaps never in a way this intimate. ‘Friends’, she said they had shared a force bond? She feels familiar, and her signature in the force does not feel deceitful, but is she telling the whole story? He reaches out with the force, halting her hands' exploration, freezing it in place, and with the flick of the other hand has summoned his lightsaber and ignited it within a few inches of her neck. 

Rey’s eyes snap open to the oh so familiar thrum of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber and she’s met with it’s blade hovering directly above her throat, how in nine hells did he have this back after he threw it into the sea of Kef Bir. 

The light from his blade bathes them in a red hue and she is reminded eerily of the past battles they shared as enemies. He is raging now, eyes wild, teeth bared, “Lies, you are keeping more from me I sense it!! I was briefed about a girl, the one who murdered the Supreme Leader! It’s you isn’t, and you dare to call me friend!!!”

Rey is shaking in his embrace though it is far from the reunion she thought it would be, it is the cold chill rushing through her that terrifies her most. Did she defeat Palpatine only to be gifted Kylo Ren back instead of her Ben? Again tears swell in the corners of her eyes but her resolve solidifies at his last acquisition. If she had Kylo here in the land of the living she would take it, he had turned back to the light once, it was only a matter of time before he would come around again, and if there was one thing Rey was good at it was waiting. 

She gave him a piercing look that spoke volumes, as her next words were spoken softly but sharply, “ahh, that’s what they would like you to believe. I was there when it happened yes, but you know the truth don’t you, you’ve known all along. It was your hand that cut Snoke in two, and it was your blade alongside mind that defeated the praetorian guard after.” 

Kylo’s eyes bulged almost outside of his head at her admission, but before he had a chance to accuse or deny she faded from beneath him, like a spell dissolving in front of his eyes. He disengaged his lightsaber and sunk down into the mattress she was laying atop just moments before. He thought that perhaps this was just a figment of his imagination, an effect of being of the bacta tank for so long, but as he reached out to touch the sheets the warmth from her presence was unmistakable.


End file.
